Sunday, December 29, 2013

Before I get into it, let me just say that 2013 was pretty great for TSTAT. Significant events? I DIE SMILING finally stopped living on my hard drive and came into fruition as my first official (and unofficial, unless there's something I don't know about) full-length release! Not only that, but 2 amazing music videos (one by PHIL OSBORNE and the other by DAVID HALL), a couple of spots on some nifty compilations, a guest-spot on the aforementioned MERDARAHTA release and a nice collection of reviews and writeups. The lion's share of the time spent "working" on I DIE SMILING can really be chalked up to waiting very patiently for amazing people to pull out some huge favours for me. These are some (hopefully all, actually) of those people - DAVID HALL, TOPON DAS, ELENA PALANZA, GARY THIBERT, SCOTTY ROONEY, CORY SOURAL, BLAKE JACOBS, and PHIL OSBORNE. Thanks guys! You made my year!

Ok, onto the list. As usual, these are in no order. Except to say that there are quite a few so I'll start with the ones that really, truly blew me away...

1) ALTAR OF PLAGUES - TEETHED GLORY AND INJURY "When I first heard this, I was like 'Oh.....THIS is what TSTAT should sound like! Shit.'"

12) KEN MODE - ENTRENCH "Another damn fine effort from these Canadian noise-rockers. Extra props for one of my favourite song titles in recent memory: NO; I'M IN CONTROL. Excellent use of the semi-colon, fellas!"

13) KYLESA - ULTRAVIOLET "I'd decided a few of these guys albums ago that they weren't for me. Glad I decided to give em one more go!"

15) JESU - EVERYDAY I GET CLOSER TO THE LIGHT FROM WHICH I CAME "I really love this album although it's kind of a bummer that it's nowhere near close to the unassailable perfection of SILVER or the SELF-TITLED. I'm not usually one to complain..."

16) RUSSIAN CIRCLES - MEMORIAL "I've always liked this band but this release in particular is just extra good somehow."

20) BOARDS OF CANADA - TOMORROW'S HARVEST "The OTHER band to release an album in 2013 after years of anticipation and speculation (I don't include DAFT PUNK in this and I'll explain why below). I have no idea if it ended up satisfying their fanbase's expectations or not but I sure like it!"

21) JUCIFER - THE RUSSIAN ALBUM "These two are almost always good for a solid release but this one in particular is a serious crusher. All the brutality of THRONED IN BLOOD but with much more depth."

22) YEAR OF NO LIGHT - TOCSIN "Loved these guys for awhile now. They sound like a new band on every release. I'm so down with that."

24) LONGMONT POTION CASTLE - LONGMONT POTION CASTLE 10 "Where humour is concerned, I think one of the hardest things to do is to be funny without being at all vulgar or profane. This guy is the master."http://noisetent.com/ducat.html

25) MIKE JOURGENSEN - MOODEITY "The very same man responsible for the release discussed directly before this one is also a one-man band of sorts. Thrash-metal Dinosaur Jr. type stuff that old people like myself would go nuts for."http://mikejourgensen.bandcamp.com/

26) UMBERTO - CONFRONTATIONS "Moody, synth-driven, nighttime, electro, 80s-style, space disco....I like describing this album as much as I like listening to it."

27) LIFE COACH - ALPHAWAVES "Yet another modernized take on Krautrock type stuff. Very cool indeed."

28) SKINNY PUPPY - WEAPON "Ever since they got back together, each album has been better than the last and this one keeps the pattern going. Very old school and very awesome."

30) MOTHS & LOCUSTS - MISSION COLLAPSE IN THE TWIN SUN MEGAVERSE "Sometimes it's like HAWKWIND and sometimes it's super-mellow post-rock. I love things that are lots of different things."http://mothsandlocusts.bandcamp.com/music

31) SUB ROSA - MORE CONSTANT THAN GODS "This was a real grower for me but ultimately proved to be a total asskicker. In a much more subtle way than their last album. Basically, it's a little bit boring but that's not always a bad thing."

1) BONNIE MCKEE - AMERICAN GIRL2) USS - THIS IS THE BEST3) MOTHER MOTHER - LET'S FALL IN LOVE4) GROUPLOVE - WAYS TO GO5) PHOENIX - ENTERTAINMENT6) SERENA RYDER - MARY GO ROUND7) GASLIGHT ANTHEM - 458) DRAKE - STARTED FROM THE BOTTOM9) AWOL NATION - THISKIDSNOTALRIGHT10) couldn't come up with a tenth. I really hate that Phoenix band. Every band, even the worst band, is usually good for at least one decent song. I assume when I hear songs like these that there's no point investigating any further into the artist in question's catalogue but I thought maybe THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM album might be worth a try and it's not that there aren't very many good songs on the respective album other than the song 45 but it's more the kind of thing where it's THE ONLY GOOD SONG ON THERE!!! The same actually goes for most of the albums on the worthless pile which is why they ended up there.

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Did I say it was cold before? That was a balmy paradise compared to the week or however long that followed. Fucking Old Man Winter. Bring it on, asshole. I'm what you'd call a warrior as I walk to and from work in -30C windsqualls (ok, it's only a 20 minute walk, but still...let's see you do it!!!). Much more of that shit to come. Might as well get cozy with a steaming cup of tea (I'm a bit of a dandy when it comes to beverages) and some killer tunes, brah...

A new MERDARAHTA release was unleashed last week! The first one in a really long while. I love being involved in this project for many reasons. The first and foremost that I get to collaborate with a number of other musicians for whom I have nothing but good things to say - TOPON DAS of FUCK THE FACTS being at the top of that heap. Also because when I finally get to hear the finished product, I usually have an almost impossible time picking out my own contributions. Something pretty cool about that. It's available for digital download via BANDCAMP for a measly dollar (but you'll pay more cuz you're not a skint prick). CLICK HERE!

I DIE SMILING is featured amongst an amazing collection of albums in FOREVER CURSED's best-of-2013 year-end list. The coolest thing about this is that, somehow, this blog slipped past my radar and, as a result, they did not receive a pestering email from myself begging them for some press coverage. No idea how my shit managed to come across their desk but I love it. The other cool thing is the list itself is pretty great and doesn't feature all the "usual suspects" which we're all probably sick of reading in the deluge of lists that come out this time of year. Anyways, huge props to those guys! Here's the writeup: CLICK HERE!

Sunday, December 8, 2013

It's winter now and I'm in Canada. Cold but not even that cold yet. The real shitcold is still to come. Nothing to do but GRIM and BEAR IT. It's kind of pretty, at least. I look out my window at night and understand everything there is to know about TRVE KVLT BLACK METAL. Then I go out the next day and step in a puddle of brown, freezing slush. All those dark, romantic musings can take a dive right down the toilet bowl. Get obsessed by that, nerds!

Here's a great review that was posted on the UK-based (I think??) music blog ECHOES AND DUST. They do a nice roundup of all the tracks. Very cool. CLICK IT!

Looks like I came in at number 3 on the CKCU FM (Carleton University Community Radio) CHARTS last week! Thanks are in order to the following programs who were incredibly helpful in throwing me a bone and playing a track or two off of I DIE SMILING: THE NIGHT WATCH, CROSSING BOREDOM, and e.V.'s UNDERGROUND. I've loved this radio station since high school so I'm always secretly giddy whenever I manage to worm my way onto it's airwaves.

This OVERKILL article that was posted on INVISIBLE ORANGES a few weeks ago is awesome. Their discography may be spotty as all hell but the fact is THE YEARS OF DECAY is possibly the finest thrash album there is next to REIGN IN BLOOD. Here's the article. CLICK IT!

2013 is almost done. I'll post my favourite albums of the year pretty soon. Lots of good stuff. 2014 should be fun. I have an EP mostly written and ready to go. Recorded my drumkit using my cell phone. I'll be remembered for all this someday probably.

Friday, November 1, 2013

Ok, two things. I had been, from the beginning of Doomtober up until Wednesday of this past week, embroiled in the exciting world of JURY DUTY. Added to that, I had to do a factory reset on my ipod. So, long story short - court by day and ripping 700+ CDs by night (cuz I don't back anything up [cuz I'm r-tarded]). So yeah, I'm just coming back onto the grid and I've got a few things to report.

A couple of reviews/writeups have come through for I DIE SMILING. The first comes from an old friend of mine JT who was kind enough to include my album amongst his September edition of RIPPERS OF THE MONTH. CLICK HERE

Another is a short and sweet posting via GOOD MORNING METAL who have always been very supportive in the past. CLICK HERE

And finally, there's this posting on on NEW PROG RELEASES. I just stumbled upon it by accident. Not sure who did it or why but it's generating some traffic to the BANDCAMP page so what the hell. CLICK HERE.

2 bands I want to big up now. The first is BIIPIIGWAN. Sort of from Ottawa but not really. Let's just say Ontario. Anyways, the brand new album from them is called SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE; NOTHING FOR ANYONE and it is a crusher. They are a little bit hardcore, a little bit doom, a little bit AmRep style noise rock and just a tiny touch of grind. You can grab the album off their BANDCAMP for any price you wish (but at least float em a 5 or a 10, ya cheap bastard). CLICK HERE.

The 2nd band I've been enjoying a lot lately is Ottawa's own THOSE GULLS. I've been friendly with these folks for a few years now. I've always enjoyed their music but, I have to say, with the addition of some new members to help flesh out the vocals and guitars - they've REALLY come into their musical own this past year! They have 3 singles available on their BANDCAMP page that you can grab. Perfect if you enjoy a combination indie rock/dreampop approach to things. CLICK HERE.

Lastly, here's a link to full video of a set MERDARAHTA did over the summer during the OTTAWA EXPLOSION festival. TOPON from FUCK THE FACTS on bass, SEB from MAKAYA on guitars and myself on drums.

The article is not only about the new album but the new video as well! The one I had no idea was even being made until it was presented to me in its completed state by Mr. Dave Hall. It's for YOU CAN'T KILL ME and it is amazing.

The new JESU is a good one. I wouldn't rank it among my favourite JESU releases but I'm still enjoying it immensely. SOMA, the newest album by a band called WINDHAND, is blowing me right away. I also discovered something called BALTIC FLEET which is kind of a cold, updated take on instrumental/krautrock type stuff. The new NIN is shockingly solid. Didn't see that coming. Checked out the new SUBROSA once but I need more listens for that one. It's pretty dense. Listening to CARCASS's latest as I type this. It's quite good. They seem to have opted for the NECROTICISM side of things with a little HEARTWORK thrown in. My absolute favourite new thing of late though is this band who are local to me (not for long though, they are relocating to Toronto). SHAHMAN is their name and their latest album is SOUNDS THAT LOOK LIKE US. Amazing stuff. Music is so dumb.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

CD pre-orders are also available from my Bandcamp page. I expect to receive said CDs sometime around September 30th and will start mailing them out at once.

INVISIBLE ORANGES kicked things off with a particularly insightful album review (wherein there is speculation as to whether or not I'm "trolling" at times....trollcore?) and a full stream of the album itself. I have my good friend DAVE HALL to thank for setting that up, he of HANDSHAKE INC / MUTANTS OF THE MONSTER. Check the review out right HERE.

This album has been a long time coming for me. The songs range from gathering dust since 2007 to being brand new less than a year ago. The vault is now empty and it feels nice. Already hard at work on new stuff. An EP, cover tunes, another full length.....much more to come.

Saturday, March 30, 2013

This is a music video for a song off my forthcoming full-length I DIE SMILING. All animation was done by PHIL OSBORNE of OSBORNE ODDITIES. He is genius at what he does and probably also at what he does not. Anyways, he animated the living shit out of this video all because I asked nicely. Actually, all I asked was that he put together a couple of minutes of abstract weirdness for possible use in a video culled from several different sources. Instead, he went and completed all 6+ minutes of it! Amazing!

MR. YAWNING INFINITY CHASM/SUPERINFINITY

Also, I recently played a house show with FUCK THE FACTS side-project MERDARAHTA. Here is video evidence of said show. The audio is pretty clear. The picture is KVLT as FVCK.